Minimally-invasive surgical procedures and interventions reduce recovery time and post-operative pain by reducing the size of the incision and intra-operative blood loss. However, due to the nature of minimally invasive procedures a physician typically relies on additional technology to gather the needed information about the target location while conducting the procedure. Current technology to support visualization during minimally invasive procedures includes imaging systems in the visual light spectrum, ultrasound imaging, infrared imaging, and x-ray imaging.
A major limitation of many of these visualization technologies is their inability to characterize the space within the body. Many of these systems image two-dimensional planes or create two-dimensional projections of a three-dimension object, and therefore the information that is conveyed back to the practitioner can be of limited use or is inaccurate with respect to the three-dimensional character of the space. Other systems provide visualization of a space by picturing the walls of the space, without an ability to convey the volume information of the space confined by the walls.